language
Synonyms:
dialect, jargon, lingo, lingua franca, mother tongue, speech, terminology, tongue, vernacular, vocabulary.
Related Words:
accent, cant, communication, diction, expression, idiom, interchange, lexicon, patois, prose, sound, style, voice, word, wording.
Synonym Study 1 (Dictionary.com):
Speech and language refer to the means of communication used by people.
Speech is the expression of ideas and thoughts by means of articulate vocal sounds, or the faculty of thus expressing ideas and thoughts.
Language is a set of conventional signs, not necessarily articulate or even vocal (any set of signs, signals, or symbols that convey meaning, including written words, may be called language):
a spoken language.
Thus, language is the set of conventions, and speech is the action of putting these to use:
He couldn't understand the speech of the natives because it was in a foreign language.
Synonym Study 2 (Dictionary.com):
Language, dialect, jargon, and vernacular refer to linguistic configurations of vocabulary, syntax, phonology, and usage that are characteristic of communities of various sizes and types.
Language is a broad term applied to the overall linguistic configurations that allow a particular people to communicate:
the English language; the French language.
Dialect is applied to certain forms or varieties of a language, often those that provincial communities or special groups retain (or develop) even after a standard has been established:
Scottish dialect; regional dialect; Southern dialect.
A jargon is either an artificial linguistic configuration used by a particular (usually occupational) group within a community or a special configuration created for communication in a particular business or trade or for communication between members of groups that speak different languages:
computer jargon; the Chinook jargon.
A vernacular is the authentic natural pattern—the ordinary speech—of a given language, now usually on the informal level.
It is at once congruent with and, in relatively small ways, distinguished from the standard language in syntax, vocabulary, usage, and pronunciation.
It is used by persons indigenous to a certain community, large or small.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French, variant spelling of langage, derivative of langue tongue. See lingua, -age. Dictionary 2: C13: from Old French langage, ultimately from Latin lingua tongue. —Dictionary.com. // First Known Use: 14th century. History and Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua — more at tongue. —Merriam-Webster.
Sources: 1, 2.
dialect, jargon, lingo, lingua franca, mother tongue, speech, terminology, tongue, vernacular, vocabulary.
Related Words:
accent, cant, communication, diction, expression, idiom, interchange, lexicon, patois, prose, sound, style, voice, word, wording.
Synonym Study 1 (Dictionary.com):
Speech and language refer to the means of communication used by people.
Speech is the expression of ideas and thoughts by means of articulate vocal sounds, or the faculty of thus expressing ideas and thoughts.
Language is a set of conventional signs, not necessarily articulate or even vocal (any set of signs, signals, or symbols that convey meaning, including written words, may be called language):
a spoken language.
Thus, language is the set of conventions, and speech is the action of putting these to use:
He couldn't understand the speech of the natives because it was in a foreign language.
Synonym Study 2 (Dictionary.com):
Language, dialect, jargon, and vernacular refer to linguistic configurations of vocabulary, syntax, phonology, and usage that are characteristic of communities of various sizes and types.
Language is a broad term applied to the overall linguistic configurations that allow a particular people to communicate:
the English language; the French language.
Dialect is applied to certain forms or varieties of a language, often those that provincial communities or special groups retain (or develop) even after a standard has been established:
Scottish dialect; regional dialect; Southern dialect.
A jargon is either an artificial linguistic configuration used by a particular (usually occupational) group within a community or a special configuration created for communication in a particular business or trade or for communication between members of groups that speak different languages:
computer jargon; the Chinook jargon.
A vernacular is the authentic natural pattern—the ordinary speech—of a given language, now usually on the informal level.
It is at once congruent with and, in relatively small ways, distinguished from the standard language in syntax, vocabulary, usage, and pronunciation.
It is used by persons indigenous to a certain community, large or small.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French, variant spelling of langage, derivative of langue tongue. See lingua, -age. Dictionary 2: C13: from Old French langage, ultimately from Latin lingua tongue. —Dictionary.com. // First Known Use: 14th century. History and Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua — more at tongue. —Merriam-Webster.
Sources: 1, 2.